The raw dataset contains 7,728,394 observations (rows) of 46 variables (columns).
After data preparation and cleaning, the dataset contains 7,546,771 observations (rows) of 53 variables (columns).
| Severity | Number of Accidents |
|---|---|
| least severe | 66121 |
| less severe | 6010987 |
| more severe | 1272321 |
| most severe | 197342 |
The author defines severity as “the impact on traffic.” Low severity accidents would have a minimal effect on traffic whereas high severity accidents would have a significant impact on traffic.
We can observe that the majority of accidents that took place between 2016 and 2023 were categorized as “less severe,” accounting for 6,010,987 of the total 7,546,771 accidents.
| State | Accidents Per 100K |
|---|---|
| South Carolina | 6992.596 |
| California | 4351.219 |
| Oregon | 4167.566 |
| Florida | 3831.624 |
| Minnesota | 3300.101 |
We can observe that, when adjusted for population, the following states: South Carolina, California, Oregon, Florida, Minnesota, had the most accidents from 2016 to 2023.
| State | Average Accident Severity |
|---|---|
| Georgia | 2.507235 |
| Wisconsin | 2.473455 |
| Rhode Island | 2.459224 |
| Kentucky | 2.452863 |
| Colorado | 2.441580 |
While South Carolina had the most accidents per capita, the average severity was one of the lowest of all the states. The states that had the worst average severity were Georgia, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Kentucky, and Colorado. While some states had a higher average severity than others, the largest difference in average severity was only 0.49.
When we visualize the average accident temperature by state, we can observe that generally, accidents in northern states occur more frequently in cooler temperatures, while accidents in southern states occur more frequently in warmer temperatures.
We can observe that for most states, there doesn’t seem to be a correlation between average temperature and number of accidents, but there are a few outliers. There is a slight positive correlation for South Dakota and a slight negative correlation for Wyoming.
| Temperature Range | Number of Accidents |
|---|---|
| (40,50] | 3450.900 |
| (50,60] | 3033.787 |
| (80,90] | 2789.022 |
| (60,70] | 2785.164 |
| (70,80] | 2771.478 |
| (30,40] | 2468.516 |
| (20,30] | 2035.900 |
| (10,20] | 37.000 |
| (90,100] | 2.500 |
We can observe that accidents tend to be less likely at each extreme. Very cold temperatures and very hot temperatures see the least number of accidents. The temperature range 40-50 sees slightly more accidents than average.
| Temperature Range | Average Severity |
|---|---|
| (10,20] | 2.936068 |
| (90,100] | 2.500000 |
| (30,40] | 2.427078 |
| (20,30] | 2.400340 |
| (70,80] | 2.315882 |
| (60,70] | 2.304957 |
| (50,60] | 2.295177 |
| (80,90] | 2.291958 |
| (40,50] | 2.263246 |
While fewer accidents occur at the temperature extremes, we can observe that the accidents that do occur are of a higher average severity. Accidents that occur when the temperature is between 10 and 20 degrees tend to have the highest severity.